Physical Education, Games & Sport

At our school we understand the positive outcomes that a high-quality PE and school sport curriculum can achieve in all physical, personal, social, cognitive and cultural aspects of a child’s development and well-being.

We are very proud of the provision of PE and Sport at St John’s; our commitment is evidenced by our Platinum Award (School Games) 2021-22. We strive for PE teaching where children develop increasingly intelligent movement (motor competence) and important knowledge (including rules, strategies and tactics) which, in turn, promotes confidence, effective participation, progress and performance in a safe and supportive environment. We aim to embed a culture of PE, sport and physical activity where enjoyment, achievement and understanding of health and well-being of our pupils are embedded and pursued beyond our school.

Our planning follows the National Curriculum, which states:

“A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.”

The National Curriculum for PE aims to ensure that all pupils:

develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
are physically active for sustained periods of time
engage in competitive sports and activities
lead healthy, active lives

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Implementation

At St John’s, children receive two hours of PE each week prepared and taught by the Class Teachers and Miss Ryan (Corbet Secondary School Specialist PE Teacher). We aim to meet the ‘five hour offer’ where all children are provided with two hours of curriculum PE per week plus the opportunity of three hours extra-curricular activity. Activities and topics are carefully selected and sequenced, covering: games, dance, gymnastics, athletics, striker / field sports, outdoor and adventurous activities and swimming. Forest Schools is also part of our PE provision. In planning and teaching, we have a constant goal that the children will know more and do more: motor competence, rules, strategies and tactics and healthy participation underpin teaching and learning. Teachers aim to provide progression through a breadth of experience which will enable pupils to develop competency within the national curriculum. The PE day for each class is clearly timetabled and children spend their day in PE kits to ensure maximum learning and activity time during lessons. A range of extra-curricular activities are also in place to complement and enrich the PE curriculum.

All children from Reception to Year 6 receive 5 hours of swimming lessons every Summer Term: this enables our children to achieve fantastic success in swimming. We strive to promote equality in swimming opportunities by providing target-children with 10 weeks of swimming where they need further teaching to achieve swimming and water- safety competence according to the National Curriculum expectations.

Our school sport programme offers a balance of individual, team, co-operative and competitive activities, including intra and inter-school competitions and opportunities for leadership and officiating when competency is achieved. Local competitions are frequently entered (frequently in conjunction with our feeder-secondary, The Corbet School) where our pupils experience opportunities to represent our school in a range of disciplines including tennis, tag-rugby, athletics, New-Age Kurling and swimming. Year 6 pupils visit Arthog Outdoor Activity Centre in North Wales each summer to experience outdoor and adventurous activities.

We have fantastic facilities for sport at our school including: two large fields (marked for football, rounders, cricket and athletics – dependent on season), a gym with apparatus and ropes, a large playground plus access to a Tennis Court and also our Forest Schools site which is used for outdoor and adventurous activities. We have a dedicated ‘PE Store’ stocked with equipment and resources. See our School Grounds video for more information.

Inclusion and challenge are very important within lessons and at St John the Baptist we ensure PE lessons are differentiated for all abilities and all pupils are challenged to achieve their very best, including pupils with SEND who are carefully planned for. Lessons build on knowledge and skills whilst next steps are shared with the pupils so they know how to improve further. By setting suitable learning challenges, responding to pupils’ diverse learning needs and overcoming potential barriers to learning, teachers aim to create a positive and achievement-orientated learning environment.

Through our PE & Sport provision, we intend to provide every child with the opportunity to gain the knowledge to make informed decisions about their own participation in physical activity – now and in their future. We want all children to experience a wide variety of sports and physical skills which will challenge and promote self-esteem through the development of physical confidence and problem solving. We aim for the positive values of sports to be taught and understood, such as fairness, respect and perseverance: this may happen in lesson, in a competitive game or through exploration of sports in the news (via Picture News / Newsround) which all contribute towards the cultural development of our pupils.

Regular participation in inter-school competition: